October 24, 2016

Argentina – AAPIDP organised two regional meetings

AAPIDP (Asociación Ayuda al Paciente con Inmunodeficiencia Primaria), the local primary immunodeficiencies patient group from Argentina has recently organised two regional meetings, one in Mendoza and another one in Tucumán.

Regional Meeting in Mendonza
On May 7th, at the Alexander Fleming Pediatrician Hospital, AAPIDP held a meeting for patients, families and health professionals aimed at raising awareness about PIDs. 35 people were in attendance and the event caught the attention of a local newspaper and of a radio program. AAPIDP has a new regional group in Mendoza and they are now working together for the implementation of to law 26,689 on rare diseases.

The opening session was chaired by Mrs Roberta A. de Pena who did a presentation about AAPIDP’s and introduced Mrs Laura Molina, the new coordinator of the regional Mendoza’s group of patients to the audience.
Dr Andrea Passodomo, AAPIDP lawyer, advised families and health professionals about the legal aspects regarding access to treatment and patient rights.
After a networking lunch, Dr Elma Nievas, pediatric immunologist at the Alexander Fleming Pediatrician Hospital and medical advisor of the new regional patient group,  spoke about the “General Care and Infection Prevention in Patients with Primary Immunodeficiencies”.

AAPIDP would like to thank OSEP and CSL Behring for the collaboration towards this event.

Regional meeting in Tucumán
The second regional meeting took place on June 16th, at Del Niño Jesus Hospital, in Tucumán, back to back with the II Immunology Meeting of the NOA NET (Nord West Argentine NET), a group of immunology physicians aimed at bringing better care to the north-western region of the country.

The opening session we had the presence of Dr Oscar Hilal, hospital director, and Mr Juan Medina who sang the Argentine National Anthem. Dr Matías Oleastro from Garrahan Pediatrician Hospital moderated the participation of several NOA members (Dr María Eva Cava, from Materno Infantil Hospital; Dr Héctor Quintana, Hospital of Jujuy; Dr Patricia Carrizo; Dr Nelly Elizabeth Díaz; Dr Silvia Oviedo from the Interzonal Hospital de Niños Eva Perón of Catamarca and Dr Natalia Tahuil from the Del Niño Jesus Hospital of Tucumán) who spoke about their activities in the field of Immunology and patient registration.

After the coffee break Dr Matías Oleastro, presented about “Hematologic and Autoimmune Disorders in PIDs” and Dr Andrea Bernasconi, specialist biochemist in immunology from the cell laboratory of the Garrahan Hospital spoke about “Applications of Flow Cytometry in PIDs”.
Mr Gustavo Campos, technical biochemist at Garrahan Hospital, spoke last about the “Uses and benefits of Nefelometry in PIDs – applications in other medical specialties”.

Patient group meeting
In the afternoon of the same day AAPIDP organised a regional meeting in the Auditorium of the Argentine Pediatrician Society at Del Niño Jesús Hospital.
Dr Oleastro, medical advisor of AAPIDP welcomed around 40 participants including patients and families. He was later interviewed by a local TV programme together with Dr Nathalia Tahuil, the Tucumán regional patient group medical advisor.

Roberta A. de Pena, president of AAPIDP, made a presentation about the group’s objectives and activities.

Dr Paola Ramos and Dr María José Fiandrino followed and spoke about “Nutritional Care in PID Patient” and “Dermatology Care on PID Patient”. There was also a presentation on “Respiratory Care in PID Patient” by Dr Santiago Assaf and, in the last session, Dr Martín Hilal spoke about “Buco-Dental Care in PIDs Patient”.
The meeting was closed by Dra. Nathalia Tahuil.